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Photo: AP
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Photo: AP

Ahmadinejad: Zionists different from Jews

Iranian president tells Time 'In any country in which the people are ready to vote for the Jews to come to power, it is up to them'; adds: Those who try to prove Holocaust never happened are persecuted

In an interview with Time Magazine, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed that the five million Palestinian refugees scattered around the world be allowed to return to historic Palestine to take part in a referendum, in which Jews would participate, to determine a system of government for both people.

 

"Our position toward the Palestinian question is clear: We say that a nation has been displaced from its own land. Palestinian people are killed in their own lands, by those who are not original inhabitants, and they have come from far areas of the world and have occupied those homes.

 

"Our suggestion is that the 5 million Palestinian refugees come back to their homes, and then the entire people on those lands hold a referendum and choose their own system of government. This is a democratic and popular way. Do you have any other suggestions?," he told Time.

 

Asked if he believes the Jews have the right to a sovereign state, he said, "We do not oppose it. In any country in which the people are ready to vote for the Jews to come to power, it is up to them. In our country, the Jews are living and they are represented in our Parliament. But Zionists are different from Jews."

 

He explained his comments about the historical veracity of the Holocaust by saying: "As to the Holocaust, I just raised a few questions. And I didn't receive any answers to my questions. I said that during World War II, around 60 million were killed. All were human beings and had their own dignities. Why only six million? And if it had happened, then it is a historical event. Then why do they not allow independent research?"

 

He told Time that studies about the Holocaust cannot be reliable when those who try to prove it didn't happen are prosecuted.

 

Irrational 

"They put in prison those who try to do research. About historical events everybody should be free to conduct research. Let's assume that it has taken place. Where did it take place? So what is the fault of the Palestinian people? These questions are quite clear. We are waiting for answers," he told Time.

 

He played innocent on Iran's nuclear program saying Tehran is opposed to nuclear weapons. "We are opposed to nuclear weapons. We think it has been developed just to kill human beings. It is not in the service of human beings. For that reason, last year in my address to the UN General Assembly, I suggested that a committee should be set up in order to disarm all the countries that possess nuclear weapons,” he told Time.

 

Asked about his country reluctance to calm "the world's" concern over its nuclear ambitions, Ahmadinejad said: "The world? The world? Who is the world? The United States? The UN Administration is not the entire world. Europe does not account for one-twentieth of the entire world.

 

"When I studied the provisions of the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty), nowhere did I see it written that in order to produce nuclear fuel, we need to win the support or the confidence of the United States and some European countries."

 

He said the United States will not "be so irrational" to launch preemptive strikes against Iran.

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.18.06, 00:15
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